Forget April Fools’ jokes—crypto traders on Binance got a real scare Tuesday when several tokens suddenly nosedived. Some coins plunged as much as 50% within a mere 30 minutes, leaving market participants scratching their heads and checking for glitches.
Act I, the Prophecy (ACT) took the hardest hit, plummeting 50%. DeXe (DEXE) wasn’t far behind, dropping 30%, while dForce (DF) slid nearly 20%. The flash crash occurred just after 10:31 UTC, catching traders off guard and triggering speculation about the cause.
Whispers of a misconfigured trading bot rippled through the crypto community as a potential culprit, though Binance has yet to confirm any such error. However, analysts pointed to low liquidity combined with aggressive sell orders as likely catalysts for the dramatic price swings.
The abrupt drops triggered significant liquidations, with $6.28 million in long positions on ACT futures wiped out across exchanges, according to Coinglass data. One unfortunate trader reportedly faced a $3.2 million liquidation as the chaos unfolded.
Pseudonymous market observer Game suggested on X (formerly Twitter) that the futures market volatility bled into spot trading. According to Game, traders using cross-margin setups and arbitrage strategies likely exacerbated the situation by unwinding positions in both markets. The panic selling then cascaded as algorithms and discretionary traders alike rushed to exit spot positions in anticipation of further declines.